The Practice U Lifestyle Is Brain Food That Feeds My Mind and Medicates My Soul
Thank you for visiting our page to learn more about us. We hope you agree it's encouraging to know we thought about you and saw it fitting to have an apparel that inspires and motivates us to present the very best of who we are when pursuing our ideas, goals, and dreams, as well as overcoming a few life struggles without compromising our soul. The initial step in achieving such goals and dreams is I must first have a willingness of the mind to listen and learn, ask questions to get an understanding, read material that helps me to grow and reread it again, do the work and continue the work to reach a level of mastery, play the video and replay the video to study what I did not see earlier, and be consistent. At Practice U, we call that a Life Lesson learned and earned from a collection of life experiences, failures and successes. Here are just a few. Life Lesson #1 of 5, Practice, Prepare, Rehearse, and Repeat as much as I can each day of the week to inspire my motivation. It is through that daily and weekly repetition of a variety of work that I begin to build up my self-esteem, routine, confidence, and dreams. Over time it becomes easier and eventually a habit.
To encourage you in your work, we offer our Practice U theme song and video on the "About Us" page. The hook says, "The more I practice, practice, practice, The better I become, the better I become," meaning I'm going to get better if I stick with my routine. I'm going to get better as I focus on my short-term and long-term goal(s). Working towards a goal is something we should all have especially when we're in school. From elementary school to the college graduation, we're all required to do homework, which is another word for practice. As a student our goal is to pass the class, present our best and speak our best. Take for example when I was challenged to present my first speech. It was a little scary, uncomfortable, and I was nervous. To get over that fear, I had to sacrifice my fun time for study time. That study time meant I had to practice, prepare, rehearse, and repeat. The more I continued to study, rewrite, and memorize my speech, the stronger my muscle memory helped me to reach one of my short-term goals which was to get an "A" on my speech. I practiced presenting my speech in front of my family, friends and an audience of strangers. I gradually evolved and began to feel no pressure. My nervousness was a minimum and it was all natural instinct. Like the character Kevin from the Christmas movie Home Alone said, "I did it!" so did I. I grabbed a passing grade. It is from that type of experience that one can conclusively see and feel the power of homework, repetition, muscle memory and automaticity. In one word it's called, practice.
For all my fellow students of all levels still in school and others enrolled into the School of Life studying to make consistent A's and B's on your class work, or studying to pass test or exams, I maintain you can't succeed without the repetitious work. Repetition is a must in order to develop your skill set in reading and writing comprehension, spelling contest, math, history, science, sports and so much more. Nurturing your talent or gift in the performing arts such as singing, dancing or playing an instrument requires repetitious practice. Practice is also true in the visual arts or mastering a specific hobby that moves you into becoming a specialist. In the School of Life there are those who practice monitoring their eating habits for health reasons, working on improving their attitude towards the positive to reduce the stress, exercising to lose weight, gain muscle, maintain a healthy firm body or learning a new language. From preschool years to teenage years we're always involved in some form of learning and practicing to reinforce the teaching. We learned as a preschooler how to tie our shoestrings. As an elementary school kid we learned how to ride a bicycle. As a teenager we learned how to drive our parents crazy, I mean drive a car, shift the gear stick of a manual transmission in a car, ride a motorcycle or electric scooter. As an adult, we learned how to budget our money and to stay out of debt. In each of those instances we subconsciously became aware that the more I practice, practice, practice, the better I had become. Reflecting back on all of your accomplishments you grew and learned to believe in the timeless message from the Practice U theme song. You might even agree with the line that says, "Practice is forever in every area of life. We don't stop and we definitely can't run from practice" In short, it's like being an athlete. It don't make sense for me to run from practice, when practicing helps me to grow and grow up. If I run from practice, I want improve. However, when I put in the consistent work, the rewards and benefits I give back to myself are “I keep moving towards self-improvement”. If you understand this basic principle, then you should be able to connect it with the remaining 4 Life Lessons. These Life Lessons are reminders of what it means to present the very best of you and be consistent in the Practice U Lifestyle.
Life Lesson #2 of 5 is the tagline on our apparel “Master a Higher Degree of Self”. To Master a Higher Degree of Self means I have to Practice Up my quality of thinking, pay attention to the details, and how I present myself consistently. My quality of thinking is a difference maker. It can be mentally appealing and/or mentally sexy in the minds of a listener, because it has nothing to do with my looks, my body, my talent or my success. It has everything to do with my level of mental intelligence, emotional maturity, and Spiritual relationship based on Bible Scriptures, not a philosophy or my opinions rooted in "I feel like". This type of work is special, because the Scriptures controls the mind, and the mind controls the body. To Master a Higher Degree of Self requires all of the above plus critical thinking. Critical thinking is knowing the "how and why".
To Practice Up means we have to be challenged where we are weak and need to clean up. To get through the challenge or my refusal to change, I'll need some guidance and surround myself with wise, caring, educated, and/or disciplinarian types of people who don't tolerate foolishness. Such people can help me to look at myself first, look at my work ethic, move my thinking from complaining about everything to working towards the solution, moving me from blaming people to looking at where I can improve, moving me from no skill to enrolling in school and graduating from school with new skills. At some point, I have to confess in order to Master a Higher Degree of Self, I have to Practice Up my quality of thinking.
As a matter of fact, the Practice U apparel in my closet, better yet my wardrobe reminds me to keep moving towards self-improvement and when I'm wearing it, I'm actively engaged in reaching some of my short-term and long-term goals. What we pour into ourselves to reach our goals can be life changing from the friends we surround ourselves with to the food we pour into our body. If we keep eating the daily advertised and often promoted $5.00 fast food meal deals targeted at our black and brown poor neighborhoods, then we won't reach our health goals. However once we have made up in our mind that junk food or comfort food is not healthy for my brain or my body, we start on a journey to move towards self-improvement. Make the connection. Surrounding ourselves with unhealthy food is like surrounding ourselves with unhealthy friends. We have to choose and have a strong sense of self-awareness.
At Practice U, we encourage you, for the benefit of you to take time to complete this homework assignment because health and fitness is another part of the Practice U Lifestyle. Step 1, Go to Google and place in the search box the following: (1) Food that prevent high blood pressure (2) Food that prevent high cholesterol (3) Food that prevent cancer, and (4) Food that prevent sugar diabetes. Next Google, "What are unhealthy processed food?" and "What are unhealthy ultra processed food?" Take notes then move to the next step. Step 2, Read the "Nutrition Facts" on the back of ALL packaged food, can food, especially the stuff we love to eat from the grocery store, corner liquor stores, and fast food chains. Now go to the final step. Step 3, Go to Google and input (1) How much saturated fat per day, (2) trans fat per day, (3) cholesterol per day, (3) sodium per day, (4) carbohydrates per day, (5) sugar per day.
Your research should lead you to recognize our body should not exceed a certain number per day. Ultimately, it’s my choice to think critically about my health and fitness. We should all come to the conclusion that I have to eat fruits and vegetables, drink lots of water to clean out the processed food and ultra processed food from my body daily. I have to rest and exercise consistently. I have to remove the poison daily from my body so the blood inside my blood vessels can breath freely. I shouldn't want to clog up my blood vessels (arteries) and stop my blood from circulating. That will cause me to suffer in pain. The same goes for the meat we eat loaded with lots of sodium and chemicals to preserve the food. If I'm going to move towards self-improvement health-wise, I have to make the decision to not only Practice Up my quality of thinking, but also to Practice Upward Now and Forever with clean nutrition. I'm the one who has to decide, that I want to do better. But suppose I don't want to. Suppose I want to do life my way. Then let's talk about "Taught Sense versus Bought Sense".
Life Lesson #3 of 5 is Rebounding from My Bought Sense and getting back on track is something every independent minded young tween, teen, and young adult ages 18-30's go through, saying "I know" "I get it" or worse "I'm already knowing". It's unfortunate that most of us don't really get it until after our feelings have been hurt. For others they don't really get it until after they're financially broke, tired of being used, disrespected, taken for granted or mentally and emotionally sick before considering to self-reflect on how did I get myself here? It's called bought sense and it's time to Practice Up.
When that time to think about the differences between taught sense and bought sense is activated, we should be open to reading more and listening more. Moving from the previously read Life Lessons in school work and homework, Googling ultra processed foods and learning about nutrition facts on the back of packaged food and the fast food we love to eat, to my health and fitness to the attitude and behavior I present, taught sense is when our parents, teachers, counselors, mentors or family members were teaching us or trying to guide us. We either listened and followed the teachings or learned the hard way (bought sense). Another way of saying this is, "Experience is the best teacher, but the tuition is high", meaning now I have to pay the price for not listening or being stubborn, hard-headed, not willing to change, selfish, arrogantly self-centered, and boastful with pride, then later on forced to self-reflect, eat humble pie, and apologize. Remember saying, "I'm sorry" or "Sorry" don't mean a thing if my behavior and attitude is still the same. I have to want to Practice Up. This is why some people say later on after their pain (bought sense), "Now, I think before I speak, act or react". It's at that point in our lives we should be focusing on changing our bad habits and growing up. It is from my Practiced Up work, I grow and develop my inner-strength, improve my quality of thinking, and decision-making that reveals the newly improved me of today with more work to do.
Just like a student learner in school is seeking to be successful in his or her academics, athletics, the arts, their attitude (positive), develop an appetite for clean nutrition, clean environment including at home so do I. By the way, the home environment is about cleanliness such as a clean kitchen, clean bathroom toilet seat and bowl inside and all around the base, clean sink, tub, and shower walls, clean bedroom, clean body, and clean fresh air. We all want to be clean, do better and be successful. We all want to be better on the other side of rebounding from an injury. Each injury is different. It can be a mental and emotional injury, physical, Spiritual or financial injury. To recover from whatever I lost, I must take time to reflect, and remember, "Practice is where it all begins" There are no shortcuts in the Practice U Lifestyle. We have to learn this for ourselves and perhaps change to a new environment of friends.
Life Lesson #4 of 5 is "You Are Who You Are Because of the People You Surround Yourself With." Surrounding myself with people who are about wisdom, class, and dignity, as opposed to people who are about greed, foolishness, and profanity is another choice I have to give thought to. Dignified people care about themselves and how they present themselves. Oftentimes they have an affect on those of us who are watching and listening because people copy people. They model for us how to dress neatly with dignity and put thought into who I'm representing or who am I copying. They model for us how to watch our words when under pressure. We in return aspire to be like them. On the other hand if we see people who display greed, foolishness, and profanity, there's an audience of people who are impressed by that negative behavior. Using profanity, foul language, curse words, hate, racial language, and vulgarity to express oneself is never necessary for any one who clearly understands what it means to present the very best of who you are. As a matter of fact, most people would agree, profanity, hate, racial language, and vulgarity is a learned behavior from another person who was mentally or emotionally angry, hurt, frustrated, disappointed or shocked and they reacted by shouting out loud an outburst of "hmmm..." For many people profanity, hate, racial language, and vulgarity can be a challenge to course correct. A person who has a sensitive ego or is apathetic meaning I don't care will use such profane words as a defensive reaction to say, "Stop it", "Back off" or "Leave me alone!" Profane language is also an unconscious practiced habit that some people justify by saying, "It's just words", "freedom of speech" or "a figure of speech".
Not so, profanity, hate, racial language, and vulgarity is definitely a practiced speech, an unwholesome speech, a corrupt form of communicating, and a sign of a limited vocabulary that started very young with impressionable and inexperienced minds not knowing that these are the bottom of the barrel low swinging morals, values, principles, and social norms that you wouldn't dare use in church or in front of a person you highly respect. But at home, on the streets or between you and your friends away from your parents "Look Out!" Such word choices are so normalized because we hear profanity, hate, and racial language all the time from TV, radio, music, social media, at the movies, at home, at school, at work from supervisors, teachers, comedians, political leaders, coaches, players, referees, and umpires and many other fields of work. But I don't have to copy negative behavior. What I can do is remember a part of the Practice U Lifestyle is always presenting my best in my private life and public life consistently. We as a people should not want the next generation of kids, tweens, teens, and young adults 18-30's who are watching, listening, and learning from what they see and hear repeatedly take it to the next level with no conscious of right and wrong and make our society more hideous and reprehensible, meaning extremely disrespectful and unacceptable. We are who we are because of the people we surround ourselves with. This is why wisdom, class, and dignity is a must versus greed, foolishness and profanity. We can do better individually in our family and in our community of families, which leads us to one final Life Lesson.
Life Lesson #5 of 5 is Teach and Uplift Each Member of Your Family First, before uplifting other people outside your family. Family is first and should always be. It is the beginning of establishing the moral compass, values, and principles into each member of the family. Unfortunately, not all of us were taught the same teachings with consequences as the family next door or next community. Not all families had the same fair chances in life. We sometimes started from behind not having both a father and mother who were sane and educated with taught sense and bought sense living under the same roof and married for years. We learned about life differently. Even though it may be different, there's still some instilled teachings in us we were all born with since the Fall of Adam and Eve, the original place of taught sense versus bought sense and wisdom versus foolishness. The DNA of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:7-13 and 16-24 is in ALL of us. We have all learned through consequences (bought sense) what is right versus wrong, fair versus unfair, good versus bad. We call that type of thinking, "morals". We have all learned through consequences (bought sense) what is important and sacred. We call those teachings "values". We have all learned through consequences (bought sense) to live according to the rules and guidelines of life. We call those rules, "principles".
When both parents or just one parent teach in the home what are morals, values, and principles, followed up with some action steps called a spanking, punishment or consequences for not obeying, we reinforce the family standards of expectations before our child(ren) walk out that door. Parents we have to be proactive, not reactive because practice and a self-disciplined mind builds a stronger inner-me. When both parents or just one parent share stories, poems, music, videos, TV shows or movies showing the main character taking a stand for right versus wrong, fair versus unfair or good versus bad, it reinforces the MVP teaching and builds our child(ren) to remain anchored in having a moral compass. When both parents or just one parent present the facts and evidence of healthy morals, values, and principles, it gives our child(ren) the "how and why" we teach and reteach constantly. The idea is our family first child(ren) will continue the home training when they're away from the house with a new environment of friends, places they work, and people they meet.
At Practice U we call morals, values, and principles "high MVP credibility" because like a credit score or credit report, this MVP credibility is earned. Never assume everybody has the same high MVP credibility that guides their conscience and mentors their decision-making. I need to see who you really are when challenged with choosing between, "Do I lie or tell the truth?", "Do I join the group or follow my conscious?", "Do I give in or walk away?". When MVP thinking becomes the 3 concrete pillars and wise gospel truths actively working 24/7 and stored deep into my brain, I become an example of matured person or seasoned adult with life experiences full of failure and success. Secondly, because our brain has a memory capacity of 2.5 million gigabytes, remembering MVP teaching shouldn't be a problem. We have plenty of memory space to keep these 3 pillars stored for life. They work together as a smart team and haunt us when we do wrong. If I betray my home training, my conscious should bother me. From practice to muscle memory to automaticity, I will either pass or fail. I have to practice doing things the right way, stay away from the foolishness, speak up for what is right and teach others to do the same. Plato the Greek philosopher said the same in the 5th century. He said, "Education is teaching our children to desire the right things". I agree with him because this particular teaching still holds true to this day. From back in ancient times to modern times, we learn over time, when we take full responsibility of the things we have said and done were wrong, we don't run from them, make excuses, blame others or deny it. We simply make the decision to stop now or transition away by talking to somebody, get some help, ask questions, start listening to learn, take notes, spend some time alone to reflect, and try to restore some broken relationships if it is possible.
Gradually, the consequences of our past emotional and mental decisions will teach us to practice patience, meaning I think before I speak, act or react and recognize patience will lead me to wisdom, and wisdom will lead to personal growth and self-awareness, two key ingredients in the Practice U Lifestyle. Subconciously, we learn that presenting the best of who I am should always be on my mind. From my brain to my soul, this is why I keep moving towards self-improvement!.
And as you keep moving towards self-improvement and I come to a close, we hope it is clearer more so now than ever before that there's more to life than my academic and athletic success, my performing and visual arts talent, my financial success as well as my looks, my hair, my clothes, shoes, shape of my body, or electronic gadgets. When people observe me, they should notice the content of my character, the way I treat people, talk to people, inspire and lead people to do better. I shouldn't hide it nor disguise it. To be that person consistently, I need to think, be more proactive, thoughtful, aware, and an example of what it means to be what Practice U calls "a great Prac-ti-co-lo-gist", always thinking about how I present myself in the public's eye and my private life from the inside out. That's the idea you want to hold onto as you pass on the legacy of you being your best and representing the awesome reputable timeless brand of Practice U.
We hope that when you purchase our apparel and accessories, you will enjoy inspiring yourself and others to do the same. Get educated, stay focused, surround yourself with good people, and continue to invest into yourself by reading books pertaining to your ideas, dreams, goals, and healthy relationships. Make the commitment to Practice U “the very best of you” so that you’ll be able to Master a Higher Degree of Self, one day at a time. Practice Up with your quality of thinking and Practice Upward, Now and Forever with an appetite for clean nutrition and a clean environment.
Final Thought: P.I.K. - P. from the ESV
15. Practice these things, Immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. I Timothy 4:15-16 ESV